Given that research on strategic collaboration between firms, as well as knowledge management, has received increasing attention in the research literature, it is surprising that few attempts have been made to link knowledge management processes to the effective management of strategic alliances. The vast majority of studies on strategic alliance governance neglect to address the interrelated knowledge management processes involved in collaboration and focus on the firm-level characteristics rather than the underpinning, micro-level coordinating mechanisms. This paper develops a conceptual model for exploring the role played by knowledge in the process of strategic alliance development. Building on the emerging knowledge governance approach, the model focuses on the dynamic interaction among process variables in an attempt to examine the coordinating mechanisms through which interfirm knowledge processes are managed.